It is almost impossible now to imagine the prestigious position Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929) held within the founding generation of American sociologists. His seminal work on human communication, social organization, and public opinion stimulated and guided much of early American sociological thought.

Cooley’s work relating self and community is now more relevant than ever to the problems of understanding and directing modern democratic societies. Cooley applied the ideas of pragmatism to developing a systematic way of approaching social action, social change, and social order; he used these interrelated theories to analyze the social problems and cultural crises of the age. According to Cooley, social change is a fragile, interactive process that, due to constantly arising problems of action, requires ongoing scrutiny by the public. This collection of Cooley’s best work is an important contribution not only to the history of ideas—especially to the origin of modern sociological theory— but also to the current public debate on civil society, community, and democracy.

AcknowledgmentsIntroduction Part I: Early WritingsTranscendentalism1: Some Teachings of Emerson 2: On Autobiographies Theory of Transportation3: Transportation and Organized Society - General4: Transportation and Economic Organization Darwinism5: The Process of Social Change Part II: The Foundations of Cooley’s Sociology and Social PsychologyThe Plasticity of Human Nature6: Heredity and Instinct in Human Life Communication and Understanding7: Sympathy or Understanding as an Aspect of Society 8: The Significance of Communication 9: The Roots of Social Knowledge Individual and Society10: Society and the Individual 11: Social and Individual Aspects of Mind 12: Particularism versus the Organic View Part III: The Self, Social Order, and Social ChangeThe Looking-Glass Self13: The Social Self - the Meaning of "I" Social Order and Democracy14: Primary Groups 15: The Theory of Public Opinion 16: Democracy and Distinction 17: Open Classes Social Change and the Pragmatic Method18: The Tentative Method 19: Intelligence in Social Function 20: Social Science 21: The Tentative Character of Progress 22: A Primary Culture for Democracy Index of Names Subject Index

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